The region
of todays Vela Luka was already inhabited in the prehistorically
times, and this witnesses by archeological researches and
founds in the Vela Spila (Big Cave). Numerous relieves of
buildings and heaps (Potirna, Kovnici, Gradina...) are the
trails of Illyrians, who inhabited the Adriatic coast and
the island of Korcula, as well. There are numerous Greek and
Roman findings, too. Some explorers believe that in the area
of Vela Luka (Potirna) there was a Greek-Conidian colony,
and based on relieves of architecture that can still be seen
(Bradat, Gudulija, Poplat, Gubesa) a number of Roman settlements
of economic i.e. farming character (villae rusticae) were
found. During the exploration of the small church of St. Kuzma
and Damjan (Zablace) numerous relieves from old-Christian
periods were found. Vela Luka did not exist as a settlement
in the middle Ages. The oldest documents that mention Vela
Luka are from the 15th and 16th century, and in these documents
it is not mention as a settlement but as a geographical term.
From that time are stated citadels with magazines in the ownership
of the governors and aristocrats Ismaelli from the town of
Korcula, the small church of St. Vicenca and the small church
of St. John in Bay of Gradina. By the end of the 18th century
Vela Luka begins to form itself as a settlement, with several
first families from the neighborhood town of Blato.

The
independence in political-administrative, land-register
and ecclesiastical view took place very fast. In 1819, Vela
Luka got a chaplain, in 1828 it became a parish priest,
and in 1848 the Parish church of St. Joseph was built. In
1849 the parish was established, in 1871 the belfry was
built, in 1876 was a clock set up on the belfry, and in
1898, Vela Luka became independent and formed its own community.
With the first industrial production (bakery, fish-processing
factory, hydraulic press for olive processing, mills on
steam power for wheat processing, a small shipyard) develops
trade and traffic through the suitable and well-protected
bay of Vela Luka. Due to that, a pier for import of good
and export not only of own products but also from goods
from neighborhood villages and towns on the west side of
island, especially from the neighborhood town Blato, was
built. In 1890, Vela Luka joined the fast line Trieste-Korcula.
After that, Vela Luka developed and grew up into a very
attractive island town, whose inhabitants deal with tourism,
shipbuilding, fishery, navigation, agriculture. With the
effort of its inhabitants, Vela Luka became a town where
you can enjoy wines and olive oil highest quality, see the
most modern achievements in shipbuilding, hear a real Dalmatian
song, see an exhibition of well-known artists, and beside
many other things, you can see a beautiful and untouched
countryside and underwater world.

Vela Luka
is a significant tourist and cultural centre on the island
of Korcula. Apart from beautiful bays, the islands of Osjak
and Proizd, hotels, restaurants and bars, Vela Luka offers
very interesting and rich cultural sights. In the centre of
the town, beside the parish church of St. Joseph, in front
of which the folklore groups "Mafrina" and "Kumpanija"
and Dalmatian singer groups perform every Thursday, is the
Centre for Culture. It is situated in the former school building
built in the second half of the 19th century. In the complex
of the Centre for Culture are the museum and the gallery where
the worth archeological collection with samples from the prehistoric
locality of the Vela Spila (Big Cave), a collection of wooden
ship models and the international gift "Collection of
Drawings, Graphic and Small Sculptures" are exhibited.
The international collection contains works of numerous domestic
(Murtic, Picelj, Lipovac, Ruzic...) and foreign artists (Erro,
Lindstrom, Monory, Soto) and among them are particularly pointed
out two sculptures of Henry Moore. In the atrium of the Centre
for Culture are exhibited mosaics that were made in 1968 when
the International Meeting of Artists was held in Vela Luka.
The floor mosaic of Ferdinand Kulmer with the motive of an
octopus point out with its beauty. In the atrium are regularly
held poetry evenings, music evenings, different kinds of promotions
and other artistic and cultural events.